Tokyo police arrested two people Tuesday for allegedly selling an unauthorized drug after telling customers it was effective for detoxification, including dealing with contamination from radioactive substances.
One of the suspects was identified as Fumitaka Umewaka, 50, a Kobe-based health food dealer. The police said Umewaka wrote on a promotional website that the drug absorbs radioactive substances and removes them from the human body.
He allegedly posted the advertisement after the nuclear crisis unfolded at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station.
Umewaka, who has no license to sell medicine, sold 10 bottles of the unauthorized liquid drug called premium zeolite to three people between Feb. 17 and March 29 for a total of ¥47,500, police said.
Police said they believe the two suspects sold the drug to more than 1,000 people, mainly in disaster-hit areas in northeast Japan.
The value of the sales was estimated at ¥24 million.